Bernardo Machado David

Bernardo Machado David is an Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) within the Theoretical Computer Science department and a member of the Center for Information Security and Trust. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology (2017–2018) and completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Aarhus University (2013–2017) under Ivan Damgård and Jesper Buus Nielsen. His research focuses on cryptography and information theory, particularly secure multiparty computation (MPC), blockchain technologies, and privacy-preserving protocols. He has held visiting positions at NTT Secure Platform Laboratories and Bar Ilan University’s Cryptography Group.

• Educational Background:
  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, Aarhus University (2017)
  • Visiting Researcher at NTT Secure Platform Laboratories and Bar Ilan University

Research Interests: Bernardo’s work bridges theoretical and practical aspects of cryptography, emphasizing MPC protocols, blockchain consensus mechanisms, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Key areas include constructing efficient cryptographic primitives with provable security guarantees, exploring asymptotic limits of protocols, and designing scalable solutions for privacy in decentralized systems. His projects are funded by institutions like the Danish Independent Research Fund (DFF), Concordium Foundation, and Protocol Labs.

Recent Research Trends: His publications (2023) highlight advancements in privacy-preserving smart contracts, differential privacy in financial systems, and composable MPC frameworks. He frequently collaborates on blockchain security, time-based cryptographic primitives, and anonymous credential systems.

• Awards and Grants:
  • Best Paper Awards at SBSEG 2012 and ICoFCS 2011
  • Principal Investigator for projects like PUMA (Publicly Verifiable MPC), TrA²C (Transaction Anonymity in Cryptocurrencies), and Scalable Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Protocols

Advising & Teams: Supervises PhD students (e.g., James Hsin-yu Chiang, Anders Konring) and collaborates with postdocs (e.g., Esra Yeniaras). Leads research groups focused on MPC, blockchain, and privacy-preserving applications. Active in organizing academic events like the Summer School on Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning and workshops at CRYPTO and Eurocrypt.

Labs & Collaborations: Engages with industry via roles like Scientific Advisor at Concordium. His work integrates academic rigor with real-world applications, such as privacy-preserving decentralized exchanges and audit-compliant financial systems.